1. Immediate access to the shared resources available in the FoRCE Research Computing Environment.

This option provides faculty immediate access to the shared resources of the FoRCE cluster including compute nodes, GPUs, and basic storage. Policies affecting the FoRCE cluster are maintained by the Faculty Governance Committee, and detailed on the policy page.

Cost: This option is provided at no additional cost to participants.

How to sign-up: Submit a brief proposal online here. (Note: You must be logged into the site using you GT credentials. Login here.)

Faculty are encouraged to use their HPC and research computing dollars to add nodes to the FoRCE. In all cases, priority is given to the owner of these nodes. When unused by the owner, these nodes may be utilized by other faculty who have also contributed nodes. Policies affecting sharing are maintained by the Faculty Governance Committee, and detailed on the policy page. By participating in this way, faculty will also have access to the FoRCE cluster and other shared clusters as time is available. This option is good for faculty who must periodically have nodes reserved for their use, but also have workloads that can be handled by a shared queue. As another advantage, participants gain access to recent architectures in longer term as the FoRCE cluster grows in size with the addition of new nodes.

Cost: As jobs in the shared environment may execute on other nodes, a baseline hardware configuration must be maintained. Participants pay for the compute nodes they add to FoRCE as well as expanded storage. (See #4)

Faculty who require a cluster environment with dedicated compute nodes can purchase these nodes and still take advantage of the federated infrastructure. These nodes are not shared with the FoRCE cluster or other shared clusters, and are available exclusively to the participant and to researchers they authorize for access. This option is good for faculty who expect to keep their nodes busy most of the time.

Cost: Participants pay for the compute nodes precisely sized to their requirements as well as expanded storage. (See #4)

All user accounts are granted a 5GB home directory quota. For long term storage of data sets, faculty may purchase dedicated storage to augment the existing base storage allocation by adding disk space to a project directory. This storage is fully backed up and implemented using best-practice redundant disk arrays to provide data integrity and availability. This option can be used independently of computational node model above.

Cost: Project storage is provided as a dedicated portion of a shared highly expandable DDN/GPFS storage system. Storage may be purchased in increments as small as 1TB and may be easily expanded on demand.

To maximize the value of every dollar invested in HPC, we strongly encourage participation in the federated cluster model. An existing cluster which simply needs floor space, power, cooling, and a network connection may be able to be hosted under the PACE Federation. The impact of all such stand-alone requests will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis to ascertain the impact on the long-term availability of hosting facilities and associated resources.

PACE offers various compute options according to the table below. We do not currently support the acquisition of compute elements based on AMD processors. This pricing may vary over time as market conditions fluctuate. PACE does not levy any additional charges past the equipment costs shown below, as quipment costs are passed directly from vendors to faculty without markup. Specific pricing will be provided at time of purchase. Participants are encouraged to seek support from PACE in choosing cost effective and proper hardware for their purpose. Pricing is current as of June, 2018.

NOTE: PACE can no longer support consumer-grade nVidia GPUs (e.g. the GTX or Titan line). As of June 2018, the shipping times for the P100 and V100 GPUs have equalized. The V100 provides increased performance for a moderate increase in cost. PACE can support either the P100 or V100, with a slight recommendation for the V100, based on price/performance.

PACE equipment and staff will be moving to the new CODA facility in the spring of 2019. While we will do our best to limit the impact of this transition on the GT research community, it will require adherence to a proscribed schedule of procurements. We plan four procurement rounds in FY19 to approximate the schedule of previous years. Note that storage purchases may occur outside of this schedule.

These schedules are based on the best available information at this time, and reflect a realistic timeline that is based on experiences of previous orders.

FY19-Phase1 - initially deployed in current Rich Computer Center, then relocated to CODA

Information such as preliminary configuration and/or budget, account number(s), spend/finance approvers, cluster name, and if the compute nodes should be shared.

8/21/2018

preliminary quote

PACE will obtain a preliminary quote based on actionable requests received by the deadline.

8/28/2018

configuration adjustments

Any configuration adjustments needed based on current prices.

8/30/2018

final quote

PACE will obtain a final quote

9/6/2018

faculty approvals

Upon receipt of final quote, PACE will send a form letter to all participants with "to the penny" pricing and a detailed description. Confirmation from each participant is required to proceed with the procurement.

9/7/2018

enter requisition

PACE will enter the requisition into BuzzMart for financial approvals

9/28/2018

release PO

estimated point at which the formal purchase order will be transmitted to the vendor

11/23/2018

manufacturing

estimated time to manufacture and assemble systems by the vendor

11/30/2018

shipping

12/7/2018

installation

estimated completion of physical installation by the vendor

1/4/2019

acceptance testing

PACE will perform acceptance testing to ensure proper operation. Upon completion, resources will be made "ready for research"

FY19-Phase2 - initially deployed in current Rich Computer Center, then relocated to CODA

Information such as preliminary configuration and/or budget, account number(s), spend/finance approvers, cluster name, and if the compute nodes should be shared.

10/8/2018

preliminary quote

PACE will obtain a preliminary quote based on actionable requests received by the deadline.

10/15/2018

configuration adjustments

Any configuration adjustments needed based on current prices.

10/17/2018

final quote

PACE will obtain a final quote

10/24/2018

faculty approvals

Upon receipt of final quote, PACE will send a form letter to all participants with "to the penny" pricing and a detailed description. Confirmation from each participant is required to proceed with the procurement.

10/25/2018

enter requisition

PACE will enter the requisition into BuzzMart for financial approvals

11/15/2018

release PO

estimated point at which the formal purchase order will be transmitted to the vendor

1/10/2018

manufacturing

estimated time to manufacture and assemble systems by the vendor

1/17/2018

shipping

1/24/2018

installation

estimated completion of physical installation by the vendor

2/21/2019

acceptance testing

PACE will perform acceptance testing to ensure proper operation. Upon completion, resources will be made "ready for research"

FY19-Phase3 - to be deployed directly to CODA. This schedule will be refined to adjust to CODA availability.

Information such as preliminary configuration and/or budget, account number(s), spend/finance approvers, cluster name, and if the compute nodes should be shared.

2/4/2019

preliminary quote

PACE will obtain a preliminary quote based on actionable requests received by the deadline.

2/11/2019

configuration adjustments

Any configuration adjustments needed based on current prices.

2/13/2019

final quote

PACE will obtain a final quote

2/20/2019

faculty approvals

Upon receipt of final quote, PACE will send a form letter to all participants with "to the penny" pricing and a detailed description. Confirmation from each participant is required to proceed with the procurement.

2/21/2019

enter requisition

PACE will enter the requisition into BuzzMart for financial approvals

3/14/2019

release PO

estimated point at which the formal purchase order will be transmitted to the vendor

5/9/2019

manufacturing

estimated time to manufacture and assemble systems by the vendor

5/16/2019

shipping

5/23/2019

installation

estimated completion of physical installation by the vendor

6/20/2019

acceptance testing

PACE will perform acceptance testing to ensure proper operation. Upon completion, resources will be made "ready for research"

FY19-Phase4 - to be deployed directly to CODA. This schedule will be refined to adjust to FY19 year-end deadlines.

Information such as preliminary configuration and/or budget, account number(s), spend/finance approvers, cluster name, and if the compute nodes should be shared.

5/14/2019

preliminary quote

PACE will obtain a preliminary quote based on actionable requests received by the deadline.

5/21/2019

configuration adjustments

Any configuration adjustments needed based on current prices.

5/23/2019

final quote

PACE will obtain a final quote

5/30/2019

faculty approvals

Upon receipt of final quote, PACE will send a form letter to all participants with "to the penny" pricing and a detailed description. Confirmation from each participant is required to proceed with the procurement.

5/31/2019

enter requisition

PACE will enter the requisition into BuzzMart for financial approvals

6/21/2019

release PO

estimated point at which the formal purchase order will be transmitted to the vendor

8/16/2019

manufacturing

estimated time to manufacture and assemble systems by the vendor

8/23/2019

shipping

8/30/2019

installation

estimated completion of physical installation by the vendor

9/27/2019

acceptance testing

PACE will perform acceptance testing to ensure proper operation. Upon completion, resources will be made "ready for research"

The advantage of the federated model is that everyone benefits from the Institute's commitment to pre-load infrastructure and support. This applies to every participant who chooses any of the first 4 options described above. These benefits include: